If watching wildlife, managing your land for wildlife, and having and enjoying a healthy pond are your things, here’s what the Gwynne Conservation Area has on tap for you during Farm Science Review, Sept. 22–24.
pond management
Winter fish kills in ponds revisited
CFAES’s Eugene Braig takes a deeper look at keeping your pond (and the fish that live in it) sustainable.
Pond fish hurting under ice? What you can do
Long periods of ice and snow on a pond are hard on the bass, bluegills and other fish swimming below, sometimes even killing them. We revisit a winter 2015 article, featuring CFAES Aquatic Ecosystems Program Director Eugene Braig, that shares details — and what you can do.
40 good reasons to go to the Gwynne
See woods, ponds and prairie — and prairie plant compadres like this monarch butterfly — in the Gwynne Conservation Area during the Sept. 20-22 Farm Science Review in London, Ohio. Then check out the 40-some talks in the area that are scheduled throughout the Review. Many of the speakers will be experts from CFAES. Trees, fish, wetlands and wildlife will be among the topics — plus managing pastures, safety with chainsaws and even Zika mosquitoes. See a complete schedule of the talks here. Read more here.
Flip this house? No, flip this POND
Aeration often can do a pond good, says an expert with CFAES. It can keep the pond from stratifying, which can make the water and fish in it healthier. Continue reading
Good green reasons to go to the Gwynne
Farm Science Review features more than farm science. The Sept. 22-24 event in London, Ohio, also will highlight the conservation of natural resources at a demonstration and education site called the Gwynne Conservation Area. Continue reading
Hang a fish on your Christmas tree
What to do with old Christmas trees? Sink them in your pond, if you have one, to give fish a place to hang out — and to give you, if you fish for those fish, a better chance of finding and catching them. The trees provide structure; structure tends to concentrate fish. A free online fact sheet by CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension, shows you step by step how to do it. (Photo: iStock.)
Blue-green blues? How to stop them
Harmful algal blooms cause problems — sickening or even fatal toxins — in Lake Erie and Grand Lake St. Marys. But they can hit small waters, too, such as farm ponds. There’s a talk coming up on how to stop them (pdf; scroll to the fifth talk on p. 2). Ohio Sea Grant’s Eugene Braig is the speaker.
30 steps to green land, fishy water, and small plump birds who call their name
Better fishing in your farm pond. Better success when you plant new trees. Fewer nuisance wildlife problems. More singing bobwhite quail, or even just any for starters. Natural resource experts from Ohio State, Purdue, and several agencies will give 30 presentations at Farm Science Review next month, all in the Gwynne Conservation Area, and all on a single theme: ways to manage your land even better — your woods, waters, and wildlife. They’ve posted the topics and schedule (pdf).